Tom Whore wrote:
> On Wed, 7 Jul 1999, Jeff Bone wrote:
>
> --]It would make sense to do so if we all felt good about what those
> --]dollars went to, i.e. if it really did make *all* of us feel all warm
> --]and fuzzy. But it doesn't, and the value those dollars provide is
> --]dubious at best, and arguably negative net value to society.
> --]
>
> Follow the money.
Well now we're into the implementational particulars of American politics,
which is of course a massive stock exchange for influence peddlers and the
occasional single-term do-gooder. Most democracies do not have this
problem of such obvious corruption and pandering, though it's present in
every democracy. The case I'm pleading is certainly not in support of this
form of government which is, much as communism was to marxism, a complete
bastardization of the ideology.
So the interesting subject for debate is: can you reasonably expect to have
a pure, ideologically correct democracy within a free-market society? Does
the corruption of wealth and the commodification of information and ideas
not start to undermine the purity of democracy, as Tom hints?
-Ian.
.:|:..:|:.
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